ould have been in splinters.

"The slope on which Trewavas had landed was wet and covered with
slippery seaweed. Experienced and cautious, he waited for a moment to
make sure of his foothold, well knowing the dangers of slipping. Peril
was nearer him than he knew. A roller came breaking in, sending a spurt
of water right over the spot where he was standing. So precarious was
his footing that he did not dare move away quickly. Trewavas had just
shuffled his feet a few inches further on that slippery slope when a
comber heaved its great length along the rock. Almost without a curl it
struck just below the landing and a boiling torrent of spume and spray
hid the daring man from sight. Just for a second, but when the wave
receded, he was gone. The rock was empty."

"Couldn't you pick him up, Father?"

"We never even saw him again, in that whirlpool of currents. The
undertow dragged him down immediately and he never came to the surface.
The body was never found."

"Who was the next to land?" asked Eric.

"I was," his father said, "and I landed on exactly the same spot. I had
taken off my boots, but even so, the seaweed was slippery and dangerous.
Remembering poor Trewavas' fate, in a jiffy I was off the slope and on
the level platform of the rock. They threw me a line from the boat, and
I pulled ashore some tools and supplies. With a rope to help them,
several of the men joined me. That was the beginning of the conquest of
Tillamook."

"And did that sort of business last all through?" queried the boy.

"Pretty much. Once, when the lighthouse was about half built, the
schooner on which the men lived, and which was anchored a little
distance off the rock, was blown from her moorings. A revenue cutter
picked her up and brought her back. I tell you the men who were still on
the rock had a sure-enough scare when they saw the schooner gone. They
made sure they were marooned and done for. I had a job to keep them at
work.

"Then there was another time, just when we were finishing the house, a
terrific storm came up and the seas washed clear over the lower part of
the rock. In the middle of the night there was an awful crash. Some of
the men wanted to rush out to see what it was. I had to stand by the
door with a revolver and threaten to shoot the first man who left."

"Why?"

"If they'd gone out, it's more than likely that some of them would have
been washed or blown away, and I was responsible. In the morning we
found